Today we’ll talk about a lender that believes “mortgage” doesn’t have be a bad word. By that, AmCap Home Loans means the experience of getting a mortgage should be better than going to the dentist, at minimum.
And they seem to be living up to that motto, with exceptional customer service numbers across a variety of different ratings websites, which tells us their borrowers seem to be very happy.
This is perhaps what sets AmCap apart from other mortgage lenders seeing that the underlying loans, often plain old 30-year fixed mortgages, aren’t all that different. Read on to learn more…
AmCap Home Loans Fast Facts
- Direct-to-consumer mortgage lender founded in 2002, headquartered in Houston, Texas
- Formerly known as AmCap Mortgage Ltd.
- Rebranded as AmCap Home Loans in early 2018
- Offers home purchase financing and refinance loans
- Licensed in 43 states and the District of Columbia
- Funded roughly $2 billion in home loans last year
- Bulk of business done in home state of Texas
AmCap Mortgage Ltd, now known as AmCap Home Loans, is a direct-to-consumer retail mortgage lender that was founded in 2002 in Houston, Texas.
Since then, they’ve grown from a group of just 6-8 employees to a 900+ workforce with 120+ branch locations thanks to numerous acquisitions.
Today, they are a multi-billion dollar mortgage lender and one of the bigger ones in the Lone Star State.
They appear to specialize in home purchase financing, with such loans accounting for about 80% of their overall business.
Additionally, about 75% of total loan volume came from their home state of Texas, with the remainder scattered across of a variety of states including California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Washington, and others.
They are currently licensed in 43 states and the District of Columbia.
At the moment, they don’t appear to lend in Hawaii, Georgia, Nevada, New York, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The company also has several affiliates, including the following brands:
- Asset Mortgage
- Capital Home Mortgage
- Gold Financial Services
- HMG Mortgage
- LendFriend
- Lending Edge Mortgage
- Major Mortgage
- Providence Home Loans
- Texas United Mortgage
- Westin Mortgage Group
How to Apply for a Mortgage with AmCap Home Loans
- They offer a digital mortgage application powered by Ellie Mae
- You can create an account and apply on your own via their website
- Or fill out a short contact form and wait for a call back to discuss pricing and loan options
- Once approved you can check loan status 24/7 and get in touch with your lending team if you have questions
AmCap Home Loans allows you to apply for a mortgage without any additional steps by simply visiting their website and clicking on “Create an Account and Apply.”
From there, you’ll be directed to a digital application powered by Ellie Mae that lets you complete much of the loan process electronically.
You’ll be able to eSign disclosures, scan/upload paperwork, link financial accounts, and get status updates along the way.
Alternatively, you can click on the “Get pre-qualified” button instead and fill out a short contact form, at which point a loan officer will reach out to discuss pricing and loan options.
Lastly, you can search their online loan officer directory by name or location if you want to check out bios and/or if you’ve been referred to someone specific.
Home Loan Programs Offered by AmCap
- Home purchase loans
- Refinance loans: rate and term and cash out
- Home renovation loans: FHA 203k and Fannie Mae HomeStyle
- Conventional home loans backed by Fannie/Freddie
- Government-backed loans: FHA/USDA/VA
- TVLB home loans
- Jumbo home loans
- Bank statement loan program
- Foreign national loan program
- ITIN mortgages
AmCap offers both home purchase loans and refinance loans, including rate and term refis and cash out refis.
It’s also possible to get a home renovation loan, such as a Fannie Mae HomeStyle or FHA 203k, if buying or refinancing a fixer-upper property.
Those who qualify may be able to get a mortgage with nothing down via a USDA loan or VA loan, a conventional loan with just 3% down, or an FHA loan with 3.5% down.
In the jumbo home loan department they offer up to 95% financing, or 90% with no PMI. They even have reduced doc options available.
Some of their more unique offerings include the Texas Veterans Land Board loan program, or TVLB for short, which provides discounted interest rates for veterans.
They’ve also got a foreign national loan program, along with an ITIN mortgage loan program for those who are not eligible for social security numbers.
AmCap does outside-the-box stuff as well, such as their bank statement program that allows borrowers to provide monthly bank statements in lieu of their tax returns.
In terms of loan programs, you can get a fixed-rate mortgage or an adjustable-rate mortgage in a variety of different loan terms.
AmCap Mortgage Rates
You won’t find mortgage rates posted on the AmCap website – instead, you’ll need to reach out to a loan officer to get pricing.
As you may know, rates vary based on lots of different borrower and property attributes, which might be why AmCap doesn’t bother throwing up generic rates that may not fit your unique scenario.
The same goes for lender fees, which aren’t found on their website. While it would be nice to know if they charged a loan origination fee, application fee, and so on, you’ll need to get in touch with a human to find out.
Once you do get all that information, it is recommended that you shop your rate and fees with other lenders to see where they stand.
While they seem to be making folks very happy with their customer service, you don’t want to overpay for your mortgage as a result.
The good news is their many reviews seem to indicate that the vast majority of borrowers were happy with both their mortgage rate and customer service.
AmCap Mortgage Reviews
AmCap Home Loans has a 4.89-star rating on SocialSurvey from more than 27,000 customer reviews, and was a top performer in the mortgage category for customer satisfaction in 2019.
They are one of the top-10 rated mortgage lenders on the LendingTree platform, with a 4.9-star rating out of 5 from a whopping 10,700+ customer reviews.
AmCap Mortgage has high marks deemed “excellent” in all categories, including interest rates, fees & closing costs, responsiveness, and customer service.
Perhaps most importantly, they have a 100% recommended rate, which means just about all their customers that took part in a review recommend you use them too.
On Zillow, AmCap has an equally impressive 4.98-star rating from 400 reviews, with lots of reviews indicating both the mortgage rate and closing costs were lower than expected.
The company is also Better Business Bureau accredited, and has been since 2011. AmCap currently enjoys an ‘A+’ rating based on complaint history.
Additionally, they’ve got an impressive 4.96-star rating out of 5 from roughly 100 reviews on the BBB website.
In summary, AmCap might be a good fit for someone purchasing a home who wants exceptional customer service and attention to detail.
AmCap Home Loans Pros and Cons
The Good
- Can apply for a home loan via their website without a human
- Offers a digital mortgage application powered by Ellie Mae
- Lots of loan programs to choose from (including outside-the-box stuff)
- Exceptional customer ratings across all ratings sites
- A+ BBB rating, accredited since 2011
- Free mortgage calculators
The Maybe Not
- Not licensed in all states
- Don’t offer home equity loans/lines
- Do not publicize mortgage rates or fees
(photo: Katie Haugland Bowen)
AmCap is responsible for costing me thousands in escrow and a house due to unneeded delays, and lack of responsiveness.
AmCap (DBA Team Lend Friend) was the worst mortgage experience in my life. They were eager to start the process. They asked for tons of documentation, which I expected. After we progressed past the initial paperwork, things just took a turn for the worse. One person after another started emailing asking for documents, many times which had already been provided. When I questioned all of the different people, they started getting unresponsive. They made several credit inquiries, which hurt my credit score.
They initially promised a June closing. 2 days before closing, they sent me an invoice to hire an appraiser and it was $200 more than I was told it would be. When questioned about it they threatened it would take longer to find a more reasonably-priced appraiser. I relented and told them to go ahead. The appraiser didn’t show up for another week and then we didn’t get the appraisal for another 2 weeks after that! I was then promised a July closing.
I kept questioning asking for the closing information and was always told “it’s coming soon”. The Friday before closing on Monday, they FINALLY sent me the CD and it had errors! Someone slipped in a payoff to a totally unrelated account. I brought this to their attention and they said it would get fixed. It didn’t. The day before the NEXT scheduled closing, they came back and said there was a document that needed to be signed WEEKS ago that they missed. Closing delayed another 10 days. We get to the 3rd closing and the same error was on the CD! They finally fixed it but we were delayed until Monday. On Monday there was another delay and we had to wait until Tuesday to close.
The refinance funded on the following Monday, they called and asked for MORE documentation before they could fund! The information was provided and I received funding that day and my original loan was paid off.
Tuesday, (AFTER closing and funding) they called and demanded a new closing and demanded I return the cash out from my loan.
Lawyers are getting involved now.
Stay FAR away from Team Lend Friend!